Lilystar's Fall
by noelleshay
Summary: When something happens in RiverClan that even StarClan was not expecting, Lilykit finds herself completely alone and soon all cats in RiverClan are looking down on her. Follow Lilykit as she becomes the greatest leader RiverClan has ever seen.
1. Prologue

Prologue

A dark colored she-cat with piercing ice blue eyes padded to the glowing stone. Touching her nose to it, she dozed off.

"StarClan help me!"

The starry cats watched in horror as a small cat with a silver tabby pelt flailed helplessly in the water. Her clanmates looked at each other in panic and StarClan stared, their eyes wide, at their failed attempts to save her.

"This wasn't supposed to be her destiny! What happened?!" A tabby cat exclaimed, her eyes wide with astonishment.

"We've never been wrong before. But she can't possibly survive in the water," a wise looking she-cat with a snow white colored pelt murmured, her head bowed.

"Her life shouldn't be so short. She's destined to be...great!" A dark gray tabby added.

"Well, why aren't you doing anything, Shellstar?" The white she-cat hissed.

"StarClan cannot interfere." But the tabby shook his head, his expression betraying his words. He looked at the white she-cat, his eyes filled with mourn and pain.

The tiny figure below wailed one last time before falling limp, sinking into the depths of the river. A starry shape appeared, diving under the water. She retrieved the body and laid her on the riverbank. She touched her nose to the small cat's pelt, and at the touch, the cat blinked. The starry cat disappeared, and suddenly appeared in StarClan.

"Dawnflame! What did you-"

"It was necessary." When the tom opened his mouth to retort, she narrowed her eyes and added sharply, "Don't argue with me, Shellstar! You know what happened last time!"

Eyes wide, the dark she-cat backed away, back into reality.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Lilykit! Lilykit! Lily-"

Lilykit heard a tiny squealing voice in her ear.

"Willowkit! Hush!"

A warmer voice, this time. Lilykit blinked.

"Whiteflower! She opened her eyes!" The squealing voice belonged to her sister, Willowkit. Lilykit felt a soft tongue rasp over her fur.

"Welcome to RiverClan, Lilykit." She purred and curled her tail around her two daughters. Lilykit drank up her mother's milky scent and sighed with content.

Willowkit jumped up. "I want to go explore!"

Lilykit looked up at her mother with large, pleading eyes. "Please?"

Whiteflower licked her cheek. "Oh, all right. Be careful though!" she called as the two kits dashed away.

Lilykit flicked her tail. She would take care of Willowkit!

"Look! Big cats!"

"Hey, Whiteflower's kits are finally out of the nursery!" Three cats had come up to them.

"Yeah!" Willowkit said proudly. "Look, we opened our eyes!"

"I can see that," said a golden spotted she-cat, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, stop it, Leopardkit!" said a silver tabby. "I'm Silverkit, and that's Hawkkit," she introduced, flicking her tail a the dark brown tabby, who nodded curtly. "We're going to be apprentices soon! Lilykit, your eyes are so pretty!"

Lilykit purred. "What do they look like?"

"They remind me of the river! They're such a pretty blue color!" Silverkit gushed, then shrank back as Leopardkit glared at her with annoyed amber eyes. Willowkit stared defiantly at Leopardkit as she swung around to look at them. Leopardkit huffed and stalked off with Hawkkit, Silverkit scrambling after them. A sweet smell wafted over to them. "It's the fresh kill pile! Let's go grab some for Whiteflower!" Lilykit exclaimed, dashing towards it. She grabbed a fish almost as big as her and began dragging it over to the nursery.

"What do you think you're doing?" A deep voice made her jump with surprise, the fish falling out of her jaws.

"I...I wanted to give some food to Whiteflower." Lilykit shrank back.

"She's a warrior. She knows how to walk five steps and get her own prey. Plus, we have apprentices tending to queens and elders. Or were you just trying to steal some food for yourself?" The warrior's expression was stony as he stared down the two kits.

"No! I just wanted to help..." Lilykit's voice trailed off and she bowed her head.

"Stormclaw! She's just helping Whiteflower! She's your own kit, for StarClan's sake!" A blue-grey she cat had walked up to them. The dark colored cat dipped his head respectfully to the she-cat and looked at his daughters with a new interest.

Lilykit lifted her head and looked at the dark colored cat. "You're our father?"

Willowkit gazed up at her father, her eyes flooded with admiration. The blue-grey she cat sighed. "He's the clan's deputy, and therefore good behavior is expected." She shot Stormclaw an annoyed look. "Lilykit and Willowkit, am I correct? I am Moonriver, the medicine cat."

Willowkit's tail shot up. "Oh! Do you heal cats and find plants for herbs and help queens and kits and elders and know ALL the plants in the forest and go to the Moonstone to visit StarClan?"

Stormclaw purred at Willowkit's enthusiasm and Moonriver nodded, her tail twitching with amusement. Lilykit shuffled her feet, confused, as she had no idea what the Moonstone even was.

"Let all cats old enough to swim gather in the clearing!"

Willowkit jumped up, stirring Lilykit from her sleep.

"Whiteflower! Whiteflower! Can we go watch? Please? Please?"

"You not exactly old enough to swim, but alright..." She rushed the kits outside and exchanged looks with Amberfur, who was so excited she looked as if she was about to jump right out of her fur. Amberfur was grooming her three kits at a rapid page, her tongue whisking over their fur as they tried to escape.

"Leopardkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Leopardpaw. Your mentor will be Gingersplash. I hope Gingersplash will pass down all she knows on to you." Fixing his gaze on the ginger tabby warrior with white splotches and white paws, he continued, "Gingersplash, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Thrushflight, and you have shown yourself to be intelligent and brave. You will be the mentor of Leopardpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Leopardpaw."

Apprentice and mentor touched noses, and Lilykit couldn't help but notice a tiny look of disdain on Leopardpaw's face as she looked at her new mentor. It was obvious she had wanted to be the apprentice of the clan leader or deputy. Lilykit watched with wide eyes as the ceremony was repeated for Silverkit, who became Tigerblaze's apprentice, and Hawkkit, who became Roseheart's apprentice.

The clearing rang with yowls of "Leopardpaw! Silverpaw! Hawkpaw!"

Willowkit leaned over and whispered, "That'll be us soon!"

Lilykit huffed. "5 more moons...you call that soon?"

Willowkit swatted her playfully. "Way to be optimistic!"

Leopardpaw strutted over. "Aren't you going to congratulate the newest apprentices? Got any questions?"

Lilykit scowled. Willowkit's tail curled up in delight. "Congratulations! Gingersplash sounds like a great mentor!" As Silverpaw walked over, she scampered over to meet her."Hey, Silverpaw! Congratulations!"

Leopardpaw's eyes flashed and she stalked away, her tail held high. A few other apprentices went up to her and they began talking.

Silverpaw's eyes were wide. "My mentor is Tigerblaze! He's so...intimidating!" Lilykit followed her gaze to a big, muscular cat. He looked quite friendly though, purring as he talked to the other senior warriors.

"He'll send her off running with her tail between her legs the first day of training!" Hawkpaw purred, getting a half-affectionate, half-annoyed nudge from his sister.

The next day, Lilykit and Willowkit woke up right when the dawn patrol was about to leave. They scampered outside and Willowkit mewed, "Can we go? Please?"

A loud voice sneered, "Sorry, kits, but patrols are for warriors and apprentices." It was Leopardpaw. Another voice, quieter and much nicer, meowed, "Oh come on, Leopardpaw. No need to be mean!"

"Spottedpaw, they must be stupid if they think they can go on a patrol!"

"Well, Leopardpaw, If I remember correctly, you were just a kit yesterday. So I don't really think it's your position to tell them what they can and can't do. Though I suppose you would know from personal experience. It's not exactly hard to forget something in one day, is it?" Spottedpaw gave her a scorching glare. Lilykit stifled a purr. She hadn't expected the sweet Spottedpaw she knew to ever lash out. But it was Leopardpaw, so that made sense.

The spotted apprentice sent an uncomfortable look at Lilypaw and Willowpaw before disappearing behind the patrol. Lilykit headed back to the nursery, still purring with satisfaction at the look on Leopardpaw's face. She turned and slammed into a cat.

"Oh! I-I'm so sorry!" Lilykit stammered.

"It's fine. You're Whiteflower's kits, aren't you?" He said, looking at them. Lilykit nodded.

"I'm Brackenpaw, by the way. My sister's Spottedpaw. I think she mentioned you yesterday"

"I'm Lilykit, and that's Willowkit."

"We'll be apprentices soon!" Willowkit mewed happily. Brackenpaw purred, "I can't wait to train with you!"

Sorry for not writing sooner, I've been so busy lately...I know this chapter isn't very eventful, but I will write more soon, promise! Thanks everyone for reading! 3


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